Canada Day 13 : onward to Calgary

(yes I know I missed day 12, we went back to West Edmonton Mall, same craziness as Friday....)


We had a stupidly early start today - taxi was booked and confirmed for 7:20 am (yawn).

I checked they wouldn't call to double check, as I didn't want Anam, Ian or Fay disturbed - so of course they rang at 6:30 and woke everyone up. Grrrrr.

Anam told them NOT to ring the doorbell when they arrived, and not to get there before 7:20 as we wouldn't be ready. So of course the doorbell rang at 10000 decibels at 7:08 am and woke everyone up again - double grrrrrr!


At least that gave us a chance to say bye to Fay, who is the most adorable little poppet you could ever meet.

The flight to Calgary was super quick, I think we were in the air around 35 minutes - one of those flights where you have barely sat down and strapped in and you are landing again.

The taxi transfer was also painless, as was check in, and we were all unpacked and settled in at our hotel before lunchtime.

The hotel is FAB, even nicer than the one in Vancouver (and a lot cheaper!). The rooms in our suite are big and comfortable, and the wireless access and in room video games are free (they were quite pricey at the other place). Only disappointment is that the pool is shut for the season, but as it is an outdoor one, and it's pretty nippy outside, that's a bit of a relief really :)

Here are some piccies of the suite. Cool, huh?


Once we were all unpacked we went for a walk around town, taking in the Calgary Tower en route.



You get a pretty amazing view from right up there, especially when you stand on the glass floor and look STRAIGHT DOWN, yikes.

Interestingly, given he is a pretty nervy kid usually, and has a lot of random irrational fears, Connor had no problem at all standing on the glass. He obviously has no fear of heights. Having said that, I don't, usually at least, but I found it pretty heart-stopping stepping out into thin air like that, it really made me feel quite light headed.



I tried to get Connor interested in the majestic beauty of the Rocky Mountains....but all he was interested in was the view of the Saddledome :) (home of his team, the Calgary Flames, who we are going to see tomorrow)




On our way back to the hotel we went for a bite to eat, met a giant mountie beaver, and then visited the Flames store in town, where Connor spent the last of his holiday spending cash on 1) a Flames hoody, 2) a Flames teddy bear, 3) a Flames zipper pull with CONNOR on it, 4) some Flames temporary tattoos for the game tomorrow and 5) a Flames Mr Potato Head (which I have to admit is very cool :))



Then back to the hotel just in time to watch the Oilers teach the Wild how hockey is played, a nice bath, catch up with the blog, and bed.

All in all a long but good day.